November 09, 2010

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South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint announced Tuesday morning he had enlisted 10 other Republican senators to impose a conferencewide ban on earmarks, signaling that he needs about a dozen more votes to force his conference to take a harder line on the issue.

DeMint announced he had secured support from several sitting senators — Tom Coburn, John Ensign, Mike Enzi and John Cornyn. And he’d received backing from six newcomers — Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey and Kelly Ayotte.

The vote next Tuesday — which will call on the Senate GOP caucus to abandon earmarks for the 112th Congress — will be done on secret ballot and could come down to the wire. A majority of the 47-member conference would have to vote to adopt it.